10-year-old survivor's grandmother says he needs father - and prayers

CITY OF NEWBURGH — On a recent afternoon, 10-year-old La'Shaun Armstrong straddled a green and black bicycle and dug into the pedals.

BY DOYLE MURPHY

CITY OF NEWBURGH — On a recent afternoon, 10-year-old La'Shaun Armstrong straddled a green and black bicycle and dug into the pedals.

He leaned over the handlebars as the wheels cranked faster and faster. Boy and bike raced up the sidewalk in front of his old apartment on William Street. Up and back. Up and back. News cameras had followed him since that terrible night at the river, but La'Shaun's family had managed a few hours of space for the afternoon to return to the apartment.

An aunt watched La'Shaun as he pedaled. Upstairs in the brick building, other relatives packed up belongings from the space the little boy had once shared with his mother, Lashanda Armstrong, and three siblings — 5-year-old Landen Pierre, 2-year-old Lance Pierre and Lainaina Pierre, who would have been a year old had she lived another eight days.

Lashanda Armstrong had argued with the youngest children's father, Jean Pierre, on April 12, loaded up her children into a minivan and drove them into the Hudson River. Police divers later found the van's gear shift in reverse, as if Armstrong had changed her mind, but it was too late. Only La'Shaun survived.

The part of his life on William Street disappeared the instant the van hit the cold water. But for a few moments, on a sunny afternoon the day before his mother's funeral, La'Shaun pedaled and laughed until it was time to put the bike away and move on.

When Armstrong drowned herself and the three other children, La'Shaun rolled down the minivan's window and swam to safety. He emerged from the water to face a complex future. The adults in his life have already begun to figure out what happens next. Datrice Armstrong, who is Armstrong's mother, said she will take over care of her grandson.

La'Shaun's father, Todd Johnson, told WABC-TV he still hoped to be a part of his son's life.

"This is a painful and horrendous situation, and his father doesn't need to be away from him anymore," he said.

Johnson, however, doesn't have a choice for the time being. He's serving time at Woodbourne Correctional Facility on a robbery conviction and won't be eligible for release until August 2012. Datrice Armstrong said she had taken La'Shaun to see his father in the past, and she planned to speak to him soon about his son's future. She said she had no problems with Johnson, but there was still much to discuss. She agreed with what Johnson told the television station about La'Shaun.

"He needs his father," Datrice Armstrong said.

On Monday, La'Shaun's two younger brothers and baby sister will be buried in Congers after a private service in Spring Valley. The cameras will turn to other stories, and life for most people will return to normal.